The protesters were convicted for blocking the entrances of abortion clinics.
President Donald Trump has pardoned 23 pro-life demonstrators who were convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, commonly referred to as the FACE Act.
“Twenty-three people were prosecuted. They should not have been prosecuted,” Trump told reporters while signing the series of pardons on Jan. 23.
“Many of them are elderly people. They should not have been prosecuted. This is a great honor to sign this.”
Trump said it was “ridiculous” that some of the 23 protesters were in prison.
“There is no question these prosecutions were political,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement. “Even ex-FBI director Chris Wray admits the overwhelming majority of abortion-related threats and violence since Dobbs is directed at pro-life Americans—not done by them. We look forward to the end of Biden’s anti-life discrimination under Attorney General Pam Bondi.”
The pardons come one day before a swarm of pro-life advocates is expected to converge on Washington for the 52nd annual March for Life.
Trump is slated to address the march in a video message, building on his legacy of support for the demonstration. In 2020, he became the first sitting president to address the march in person. This year, he will be in California surveying the damage from the devastating wildfires that have ravaged the state. Vice President JD Vance, however, will attend and address the march in person.
“We thank President Trump for immediately delivering on his promise to free pro-life protesters who [were] targeted and imprisoned by Biden’s Department of Justice,” Dannenfelser said.